OTHER PLACES TO VISIT IN the UNITED KINGDOM

French version

Beamish welcomes you to the heaven on earth for history and English teachers! Because Beamish Open Air Museum is an amazing world, winner of the "European Museum of the Year" title. The word "museum", is not really appropriate, however. At Beamish, visitors find themselves on another planet, and in another age…

JOURNEY IN A TIME MACHINE!

Beamish is a real town where visitors can see how people in the North of England lived and worked at the beginning of the 19th and 20th centuries. Here, they can experience the industrial, social and rural history of the region. Let us say straight away that we cannot describe everything, the entire site would not suffice.

But we can make a comparison. Beamish is to 19th century daily life what Pompeii is to the daily life of the Romans, but better, since everything is in working order:

  • the Mining Village, where visitors discover the way the miners lived, and can take a guided underground tour to see how an early 20th century coal-mine worked.
  • the Farm, where traditional harvesting techniques are demonstrated and where cattle, pigs, and poultry are still raised. Visitors can even buy cheese made before their very eyes according to time-honoured methods!
  • the Town, which is a re-creation of part of a typical town of around 1903, sheds light on the development of urban industry, trade, and commerce. The streets, with their red-brick houses contain a sollicitor’s office, a dental surgery, a music teacher’s house, a grocer’s, a draper’s, and a hardware shop.
  • the Railway Station, built in 1867, comes from a village in the hills of County Durham, about 25 km from Beamish. The ladies’ waiting-room and the ticket office have been furnished and equipped as they were in 1913. The carriages and steam engines are also on display. And as for the trams used to take visitors round this amazing site, they too are genuine…

Preparing for your visit

It is easy to see why this outstanding open-air museum receives so many school groups each year. Your preparatory visit is FREE and an Education Officer is there to help (by appointment).

A detailed guide, which takes account of the school syllabus, is available (guides intended for teachers on each of the 6 exhibitions, 6 information sheets are also available in French, and 4 brochures describing a typical working day at the beginning of the century in 4 different trades). The following can be reserved at the same time as your visit: the study room, audio-visual equipment, the guided tour, the presentations, and the discovery workshops.

Organising your trip

RESERVATION
Beamish The North of England Open Air Museum, BEAMISH, DH9 0RG
Contacts : the Bookings Officer
Tel: (01207) 23 18 11
Fax: (01207) 29 09 33

VISITS
Summer (8th April-29th Oct): daily 10.00-17.00
Winter: closed Mondays and Fridays
5th Jan - 7th April: 10.00-16.00
30th Oct - 6th April 2001: 10.00-16.00

Length of visit: 4-5h summer, 2h winter
Last ticket: 2h before closing in summer
1h before closing in winter
School groups concerned: all

Useful address

Northumbria Tourist Board
Aykley Heads, Durham, DH1 5UX
Tel: (0191) 375 30 00
Fax: (0191) 386 08 99

Durham Tourist Information Centre
Market Place, Durham, DH1 3NJ
Tel: (0191) 384 37 20
Fax: (0191) 386 30 15
 

 

© Group-trotter.net — Last update: 05-Mai-2006
Email the webmaster